Jordan Pond House Popovers!


The weather here in Texas has been just like summer in Maine lately… so in celebration (and to remind us of tea on the lawn at Jordan Pond House), I made popovers!

If you’ve never been to Jordan Pond House, by the way, you should definitely put it on your list of things to do. It’s a delightful restaurant that’s actually a part of Acadia National Park — their specialty is tea and popovers on the lawn, overlooking the Bubbles (twin mountains) and serene Jordan Pond. (Last time we were there, we picked blueberries a little ways down from the lawn, and a few loons were calling in the middle of the lake).

One of my fondest Maine memories is sitting out on the lawn on a late summer day, the cool breeze blowing, the clinking of cups and saucers all around, the grass like a soft green carpet underfoot. Jordan Pond is laid out before you, bluer even than the sky, and a few gulls soar high among the white puffy clouds. Just when you think life can’t get any better, a kind waiter brings you a basket of popovers. Huge, light, and absolutely sublime with butter and strawberry jam… it’s heaven on earth. (And if you add a cup of lobster stew, it’s even better.)

We made them again the other night, and they were just as tasty as we remembered. Not all of my attempts have worked; there are a few tricks to making good popovers, so I’ll share them here.

1) Put them on the bottom rack of your oven (with room above for them to expand)
2) Use popover pans
3) Do not open the oven until the baking time is over.

Here’s the recipe I used — it’s right out of the Jordan Pond House Cookbook (which I highly recommend, as it includes recipes for lots of scrumptious dishes like Lobster Stew):

(For 8-12 popovers)

Four eggs
Two cups milk (I used 1 percent)
Two cups flour
One-half teaspoon salt
One-sixth teaspoon baking soda

(The cookbook recommends making the batter a day ahead of time, refrigerating it, and then letting it return to room temperature, but I skipped the day-before thing. I did, however, let it warm up to room temperature.)

Preheat oven to 450. Break eggs into mixing bowl and whip; add milk and blend. Add remaining ingredients and mix until almost smooth — do not overbeat. Fill greased popover pans, muffin tins or custard cups 3/4 full. Bake for 14 minutes at 450, then reduce heat to 350 and bake 15 minutes more. (DO NOT OPEN OVEN UNTIL BAKING IS COMPLETE!) They’ll be crispy brown on the outside and moist on the inside at this point; remove them from the pans and serve with butter and strawberry preserves. (Jordan Pond House uses Stonewall brand — I looked in the gift shop.)

Yum. It’s a good thing I just made myself a batch of Bread Machine County Line bread, or I’d be tempted to whip up another batch….

12 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    The Chef’s Table Popovers are MUCH better than Jordan Ponds’. I ate both of them last week. The Chef’s Table is a small restaurant in Rockport, ME, on the main highway, #1. Trust me. Much better.. And… their price for extras is less than half the price of Jordan Pond’s

  2. Phoebe says:

    my mom and i were just up at jordan pond for lunch…. (my first time!) It was everything she promised it would be… sooooooo delicious…. the best lunch of my life, actually. thanks so much for the recipe!

    phoebe from silk felt soil

  3. Anonymous says:

    Jordan Pond’s Popover’s are so delicious. You mentioned that there is a cookbook. Where can I get it. I want to try making the Lobster stew.

  4. Anonymous says:

    I visited Jordan Pond House last fall and fell in love with the Lobster Stew. Since you have the cookbook with the Popover recipe, I wonder if you have the recipe for their Lobster Stew? If you do, could you share it with us? I’d really appreciate it.

  5. Anonymous says:

    My family and I were just up at jordan pond for lunch (my first time!) The Popovers are wonderful. They were sooooooo delicious. Thanks so much for the recipe!

  6. Cheryl says:

    I just went on the Jordan Pond Gift Shop website, and the only cook book they had was published by the Junior League. Is there another??

  7. Cheryl,

    If you go to the 'books and music' section and search Jordan Pond, a book called "The Story of Jordan Pond" will come up. It's really the cookbook. Good luck!

  8. Michelle says:

    My husband and I went to Acadia and Bar Harbor for our honeymoon. We loved the popovers.. and I am so glad I was able to find your recipe… I'm looking forward to making them for our anniversary!

  9. Anonymous says:

    I was in Bar Harbor for 1 week and had lunch at Jordan Pond on the very first day. I had the Popovers and the Lobster Stew. Everything was delicious but the Lobster Stew was out of this world. The best thing I've ever eaten. I couldn't get it out of my head so I went back on my very last day to have a bowl of it. Yummmmm!!! You have to try it. I bought the cookbook but haven't tried the recipe. 3 c. milk, 1 c. light cream, 3 Tbsp butter, 1 c. chopped lobster, paprika, white pepper, salt, cooking sherry. Melt the butter, add lobster and paprika, cook for 10 minutes. Add scalded milk and cream. Stir and season to taste, adding cooking sherry last. Serves 4.
    Gook luck!!

  10. Anonymous says:

    Thanks for the recipe. I've been looking for the lobster stew recipe for a while myself. One question, does the book specify the measurements of the paprika, white pepper, salt, cooking sherry?

  11. alison says:

    the recipe in the cookbook says to season the stew to your own taste with paprika, white pepper, salt and sherry.

    i've made this a number of times, because everybody is right, this lobster stew is SUPERB…and i think i've just lightly dusted with paprika and white pepper, added sea salt to my taste, and 3 TB of sherry was what tasted best to me.

    but your palate might be different than that…

  12. Anonymous says:

    I was there in 2008 in the fall. The park was beautiful and restful. We happened onto Jordan's Pond Restaurant and the popovers were out of this world. I brought two packages back with me and they are sadly gone, so I am very glad to get this recipe.

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